"TERESIANUM" OF ROME CELEBRATES 75TH ANNIVERSARY
VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - This afternoon the Holy Father received students of the "Teresianum" Pontifical Theology Faculty of Rome on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of their faculty.
Referring to the academic institution's Carmelite spirituality, the Pope highlighted the "vast movement of renewal that began in the Church as the fruit of the witness of St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross. It aroused that resurgence of ideals and fervor of contemplative life that in the 1500s enflamed, so to speak, Europe and the entire world". (IMAGE SOURCE: RADIO VATICANA)
Addressing the students, Benedict XVI emphasized that "your work of anthropological and theological research is also situated in the wake of this influence, the task of penetrating the mystery of Christ, with intelligence of the heart, which is in turn a knowing and a loving. This demands that Jesus be located at the center of everything, of your feelings and thoughts, of your prayer, study, and work, of your entire life".
"Be aware", he continued, "that these years of study are a precious gift of Divine Providence, a gift that should be embraced with faith and diligently lived as an unrepeatable opportunity to grow in the knowledge of the mystery of Christ".
The Pope noted that "in today's context, an in-depth study of Christian spirituality is very important upon which to base your anthropological presuppositions. The specific preparation that it provides is certainly important because it makes one adapt for and capable of teaching this discipline, but it is an even greater grace for the wise cultural background that it brings with it for the delicate task of spiritual direction".
While recalling that "the Church continues to recommend the practice of spiritual direction", the Holy Father asserted that "each person, and in particular those who have welcomed God's call to follow Him more closely, need to be personally accompanied by a guide who is sure in the doctrine and expert in the things of God; a guide who can help protect against simple subjectivism, making available their own wealth of knowledge and lived experience in following Jesus".
The Holy Father asked the students to make the most of what they have learned in these years of study "to accompany those whom Divine Providence entrusts to you, helping them discern the spirits and follow the movements of the Holy Spirit, with the goal of leading them to the fullness of grace".
Commenting on the fact of their meeting in Rome, Benedict XVI encouraged the students "to open yourselves to the universal dimension of the Church, ... to 'sentire cum Ecclesia', in profound harmony with the Successor of Peter" and urged them "to love and serve the Church every day with a greater and more passionate ability".
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YOUTH, PROTAGONISTS OF 45TH WORLD DAY OF PEACE
VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - According to a communique issued today by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, "Educating Young People in Justice and Peace" is the theme that Benedict XVI has chosen for the 45th World Day of Peace this coming 1 January, 2012.
"The theme", reads the text, "engages an urgent need in the world today: to listen to and enhance the important role of new generations in the realization of the common good, and in the affirmation of a just and peaceful social order where fundamental human rights can be fully expressed and realized".
"In fact, there is a duty incumbent upon the present generation to prepare future ones, and creating for them the conditions that will allow these future generations to express freely and responsibly the urgency for a 'new world'. The Church welcomes young people and sees them as the sign of an ever promising springtime, and holds out Jesus to them as the model of love who 'makes all things new'".
"Those responsible for public policy are called to work for the creation of institutions, laws, and environments of life that are permeated by a transcendent humanism that offers new generations opportunities to fully realize themselves (e.g. decent job, education etc.) and to build a civilization of fraternal love directed toward a more profound awareness of truth, freedom, of love, and of justice for all persons".
"This, then, is the prophetic dimension of the theme chosen by the Holy Father in the path of the 'pedagogy of peace' indicated by John Paul II in 1985 ('Peace and Youth Go Forward Together'), in 1979 ('To Reach Peace, Teach Peace'), and in 2004 ('An Ever Timely Commitment: Teaching Peace')".
"Young persons must labor for justice and peace in a complex and globalized world. It is therefore necessary to establish a new 'pedagogical alliance' among all those responsible for the education and formation of young people. The theme indicates an important area of concern in the teaching of Benedict XVI in his Messages for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, beginning with the need for the truth (2006: 'In Truth, Peace'), followed with the reflections on human dignity (2007: 'The Human Person: The Heart of Peace'), on the human family (2008: The Human Family: A Community of Peace'), on poverty (2009: 'Fighting Poverty to Build Peace'), on the care for creation (2010: 'If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation'), on religious freedom (2011: 'Religious Freedom: The Path to Peace), and now talking to the minds and beating hearts of young people: 'Educating Young People in Justice and Peace'".
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CARDINAL SARDI TO TAKE POSSESSION OF DIACONATE CHURCH
VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff announced that on Tuesday, 24 May, at 6:15pm, Cardinal Paolo Sardi, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, will take possession of the diaconate of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice in Via Tuscolana at Piazza di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, 54.
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VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today, in separate audiences, the Holy Father received eight prelates from the Bishops' Conference of India on their ad limina visit:
- Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India with Auxiliary Bishop Binay Kandulna,
- Bishop William D'Souza of Patna,
- Bishop Gabriel Kujur of Daltonganj,
- Bishop Julius Marandi of Dumka,
- Bishop Paul Alois Lakra of Gumla,
- Bishop Charles Soreng of Hazaribag, and
- Bishop Felix Toppo of Jamshedpur.
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VATICAN CITY, 19 MAY 2011 (VIS) - Today the Holy Father appointed as consultors of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization: Msgr. Fernando Ocariz, vicar general of Opus Dei; Fr. Pascual Chavez Villanueva, rector major of the Salesian Society of St. John Bosco and president of the Union of Superiors General; Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation and ecclesiastical assistant to the Association "Memores Domini"; Fr. Francois-Xavier Dumortier, S.J., rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; Fr. Pierangelo Sequeri, vice rector and professor of Fundamental Theology at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy and lecturer in Aesthetics of the Holy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brera, Milan; Sr. Sara Butler, M.S.B.T., professor of dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in New York; Sr. Mary Lou Wirtz, F.C.J.M., general superior of the Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and president of the Union of Superior Generals (UISG); Dr. Chiara Amirante, founder and president of the New Horizons Association of the diocese of Anagni-Alatri, Italy; Mr. Kiko Arguello, a co-initiator of the Neo-Catechumenal Way; Prof. Lucetta Scaraffia, professor of contemporary history in the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy at "La Sapienza" University in Rome.
Today the Holy Father appointed Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany, as special envoy to the celebrations for the 350th anniversary of the Marian Sanctuary in Werl (Archdiocese of Paderborn) that will take place on 2 July 2011.
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